17th March On Saturday I joined a large group of Red Rose members for a trip down White Scar, beyond the tourist show cave bit. After squeezing into as much neoprene as we could muster (a task which looked like it was harder for some than for others; I'm assured because the neoprene had 'lost its stretch...') we stomped through the showcave and, after a quick look in Battlefield Chamber, climbed over the railings and into the continuation of the streamway.
Tourists don't go beyond this point, mainly because the water is 8 feet deep and there is no walkway above it, but after a combination of swimming and holding onto ledges on the side, we were through the deep section and into the boulder choke. There was a delay here as nobody could find the way through. After a time, Ian clambered through a hole to find somewhere to pee. Thinking he'd found the way on I followed him. I presume he kept going to get away from me and find some privacy, but eventually he popped out on the other side of the boulder choke, so I guess I can claim some credit for finding the route...sort of...?
Several hundred metres of large, fun, wet streamway followed. Eventually we reached a cascade on the right, at the top of which the passage changed character. The stream was now wide, slow and silty with a low ceiling. A series of ducks followed but, rather than being intimidating, they were great fun as there was so much space under the water and I was quite warm in my wetsuit. Eventually we found a dive line and the first sump. I poked my legs through and could feel the other side, but didn't fancy the free dive!
Back at the cascade, we had a look at some impressively long straws at the top of a hand line climb before heading out after a fine 4 hours underground.
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